Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-04-02
Fence Rail Philosophy.

Western Plowman.
"The faster / go, the sooner Til
get there"
This was the answer just now got
from young man when asked him
why he drove his horse at what
seemed to me an unnecessary speed.
Ii is the answer that great many
could give in their journey from the
cradle to the grave. Rapid transit
seems to be the craze of the day. Boys
are in a hurry to become men. Men
are in hurry to acquire riches and
honors, and the old plan of travelling
by easy stages does not belong to the
era of steam and electricity, but all
the work of life must be gagged up
to its highest intensity.
"The faster we go, the sooner we
get there"
Yesterday / attended the funeral
of a man whose life was an illustra-
ton of the rapid transit system.
When he was a boy at school he was
in a hurry to graduate, and he con-
sumed the midnight oil and with it
his own physical vitality in his efforts
to get over the greatest amount of
ground in the least possible time.
He travelled fast and he got there,
but he got there with weak and
stunted physical organization, for
Natures laws will have their own
time of doing their work, and if you
beat them out of it, the work isn't
done. He didn't give Nature the
time necessary to build up his phys
ical structure and Nature didn't do
it.
Well, he engaged in business, and
of course was in great hurry to
outrun his competitors in the race for
wealth. His business was conducted
on the high pressure plan. His
nerves were kept at such a high ten
sion that be could scarcely sleep or
rest, and as for enjoyment-he hadn't
time for that.
When the outraged laws of his be-
ing made protest and gave the orders
to slacken, he whipped up his lag
ging physical energies by the use
of alcoholic stimulants. Faster and
faster he went, and harder he dashed
his jaded powers. Friends noted the
frightful speed at which he was going
and warned him of his danger, but
their pleadings and circumstances
were of no avail. He had ACQUIRED a
momentum that he could not check
and on he went to the inevitable end.
He travelled fast and he got there.
He lived a seventy years life in
thirty-fve years. In his journey he
had no time to pluck flowers by the
way side. He looked neither to the
right nor to the left to admire beauti-
full landscapes or to be uplifted by
contemplating the marvellous pro-
duction of Gods handiwork. No, he
had no time for these things. They
would do for the slow going travellers,
who were content to make their jour
ney of the old three score and ten
schedule, but he was on the lightning
express with no stops at the small
stations of Enjoyment, Recreation
and Social Pleasures.
He got there.
At the age of thirty-fve he died at
the age of seventy. BY the high
pressure plan he had condensed his
life into half the allotted space. And
yet, people who were daily witness
ses of the high rate of speed at which
he was travelling, wondered why he
got to his journeys end so soon, and
they murmured something about the
ways of Providence being mysterious.
There was no mystery about it. 1t
was simply a matter of arithmetic.
Double the speed at which you trav-
el and you shorten the time on the
road. An engineer who expects to
take his train through on time, must
know at all times the speed he is
making, and if we consulted the
gauge of our own lives as systematic
ally, we should be warned by the
register of high pressure and apply
the brakes.
When l see young man smoking
cigars, drinking whisky, associating
with evil companions and indulging
in what is called fast" habits, |
think l shall say to him, as the
young man said to me, "The faster
YOU go, the sooner you will get
there"
Prohibition.